The present invention relates to a method for compensating for shifts in the delay of bursts caused by the Doppler effect in at least one subscriber station during reception by a transponder, particularly a satellite, with the bursts being combined into TDMA frames, and to a circuit arrangement for this purpose.
To compensate for shifts in delay produced by the Doppler effect in bursts (data bundles) from different subscriber stations, particularly satellite ground stations, received by means of a transponder, particularly a satellite, it is known to exchange an additional reference signal, and to derive a control signal for phase and frequency regulation from the difference between the additional reference signal and a further signal. Such an arrangement is disclosed in Federal Republic of Germany No. OS 2,339,455, and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,364. Federal Republic of Germany No. OS 2,843,189 discloses the use of a guide station to organize the TDMA traffic and to compensate for Doppler caused shifts in delay. The receiving circuits of these guide stations follow the reference bursts (frame reference bursts) transmitted by the ground stations and returned via the transponder. As soon as all reference bursts are known, the time position of the gaps in reception are adjusted and thus the Doppler effects are corrected until the received reference bursts are lined up correctly.